Bitter strawberries you can't help but claim sweet
by Soffy-blu
Summary: Fairy Tail: various hurt/comfort drabbles.


**A/N: This is kind of a vent fic for me, you know, let emotions out somehow or another. Basically sadness with comfy at da end dont worry. I'm going to start an entire damn collection of these. It's basically hurt+comfort+romance+angst all in one damn bundle. But this only applies to my _vent_ fics, so if it isn't what I qualify as a vent fic then it'll be on it's own. Ugh, I'm indecisive with my fic .**

 **(Any warnings that apply will have warnings and these don't actually tie to my life. I just need to express sadness and pain in healthy ways.) Ratings may vary. That being said, let's get started.**

 **Title: A little bit of love**

 **Rating: T for kissing**

 **Pairing: Natsu/Lucy**

 **Warnings: Anorexia/ some kissing at a point in this (on her body, but not _too_ intimate or detailed)**

 **Summary: Lucy doesn't think she can say no to the voice in her head anymore, or the way it's whispers linger for a little too long. But what she can do is hope at some point the feeling goes away. Even if her hopes and dreams are futile— the stars never stray from their path.**

Her body shook, tears streaming down her face and she did her damned best to shut the voice out of her head. She'd named it Laura, even though it was her damn thoughts. Lucy really hated the voice, but she found comfort in it all the same.

It whispered little things in her ear, begging and pleading almost but it only came out at persuasion for her to do the most cruel things to herself.

"Do it." It whispered, and she could just imagine the sly smirk on it's face.

How long has she been fighting off the voice? And why was she fighting it off? It says it will help, that it'll help her. Even though the voice sends unpleasant shivers throughout her body and makes her head pound, she decides to listen to it.

By now her eyes are dry, really dry, to the point it almost burns to open or close them and she's sure she'd rather cry than feel this. But with shaky hands she pulls the tank top and bra off of her, watching them slip to the ground before she steps over them and tries to remember which drawer it is.

She makes an 'ah-hah' when she finds it. Gods, she'll never tell anyone that she has a drawer full of nothing but Natsu's stuff, but she really can't bring herself to care right now. The thin fabric is warm over her skin as it slides down, but she groans when it pools into a wrinkled stack on her bust, and she shimmies it down the rest of the way.

It's just a plain, black T-shirt but it smells so much like him. Yes, it's clean, but it still smells like cinnamon and a campfire. Inhaling deeply, she gets a whiff of his scent before trotting back to her bed.

It seems as if it's leisurely, but in reality her heart only sank deeper. When she crawled under her baby pink covers, only one thing was on her mind: food.

The thoughts of _diet_ and _don't eat over 500 calories tomorrow_ raged through her mind and like a typhoon overcame her entire being. It was slowly consuming her and she was going to let it.

She must be so _weak_ , right? As to allow her own demons to overcome her? No...she was strong. She was so...so strong for the fact that she fought so long and so hard against the demons disguised as angels that she finally succumbed to their wishes.

Lucy couldn't remember the last time she was happy with eating, happy with shoving the glorious (Dreaded) food in her mouth to take a bite. She kind of missed it, she decided, lips quivering as if she was crying but only strangled sobs could come out— no tears. Her eyes were raw, her body hurt from the very thought of walking, or moving for that matter and she really _really_ needed some comfort.

The blanket shifted, and she ran a hand through her champagne blonde hair, relishing in how cool and soft it was. The air in her apartment was nippy, even with the heater on, and she couldn't help but wish the dragon slayer would barge into her apartment. But that was a lost hope— another dream. She was so...silly, she guessed. To think that he would want her, to walk in and comfort her. It was a silly wish or dream she had that would never come true.

They all knew Natsu—in all his glory— had trouble dealing with crying people. And he'd probably want to rush into a fight or scold her if he found out what was going through her mind.

Soon she was fast asleep, puffy eyes and snotty nose forgotten as she drifted into her dreams.

As if on cue, a thump was heard on the bed, along with a curse. Luckily she still lay asleep, golden strands falling in a chaotic manner over her now rosy cheeks, soft snores coming from the stellar mage.

Natsu slid his fingers through his pink locks, blinking a few times and narrowing his eyes. She didn't know that he could smell her tears from down the road. She'd never know that he told Happy to go visit Charla so he and Lucy could have so alone time. It wasn't even that he meant it in a dirty way, at all. The fire mage knew that Happy would be distressed to see the girl in tears- and he didn't want that.

He took a deep breath, dryly gulping and heading over towards his dresser drawer. She'd kill him for dirtying another pair of pajama pants but there was no way in hell he was going to sleep in these dirty things.

Softly sliding the drawer open, grabbing the pair of plaid boxers (in red and black, he might add) and matching pants, he un buttoned his trousers. Would she scream if she woke up and saw him bottomless in her room? Probably. Was he a ninja that was silent? You bet your sweet ass he was.

Still, he was perplexed on the idea of Lucy crying. She knew she could come to him and yet she still lay in the bed, by herself, sobbing.

The fabric slid down to his ankles and he hastily kicked them to the side, doing the same with his boxers before shrugging and pulling the other clothing articles up on his body. He decided not to wear a shirt, smiling at the view of Lucy in one of his own, and he was vaguely aware that she was shivering.

He wasn't a gentleman. He messed up while dancing sometimes and he really didn't understand a lot of the 'prince charming' aspects that most girls, like Lucy, love. But he wasn't going to watch her suffer— hell no. He'd burn the bastard to a crisp that made tears stain her cheeks.

Strolling over to the bed, he sat down. The warmth of the blanket hit him but came off cool as of his unnatural body temperature and he wiggled himself under it. She hummed when he wrapped his arms around her, nose and lips finding their way to the crook of her neck.

Natsu almost drifted off to sleep, but decided against it when her eyes fluttered open and Lucy sniffled lightly.

"Mornin'"

And she freaked. Her arms flailing everywhere, desperately trying to cover her boobs while sputtering because _dammit the air is nippy and she didn't have a bra on_. But he only tugged her back down, pushing her face into his bare chest.

She didn't understand why he was doing this? Why was he even here? Though it made no sense as to why she was complaining—

She heard a shaky breath from him and felt his body shudder.

"Gotta tell me what's goin' on." He muttered, breath dripping in concern and nervousness.

Lucy finally returned the embrace, scooching up as to get closer to his ear. What was she supposed to tell him? 'I'm kind of thinking about starving myself and it's slowly overcoming me?' It didn't exactly sound appealing to her, in her mind anyways. She wanted to tell him, but something in her mind told her no.

"I..don't- I don't know how to explain it…"

He kept the embrace, humming and rasping out a "Please try"

Her body shook again, but this time it was in his arms. She hated the fact that his embrace didn't make it all better. It really didn't. Lucy would love to think it did, though.

"Just.. like, like, like, uhh...kind of like a voice in my head, yknow?"

"Mmm"

"But..it like says it'll make me better but then makes me...I dunno...like want to not eat?"

To that his ears perked at the words, his grip tightened, and his eyes widened in both fear and a fruitless attempt to stop tears from welling.

"You-you mean you've been umm...thinking about starving yourself?"

She didn't think about it that way. It was just a diet, right?

"No...just not eat for a few days or sometimes only eat a certain amount of calories- it's weird- and then there's the urge to throw up when I eat."

"Lucy I thin-"

"Just I can't tell what it's doing? Is it making me better or worst? It's almost like I want me to fall into it but I don't..ah who am I kidding, it's just a normal thing I guess."

He huffed, pulling her up and looking her dead in her eyes. She didn't think she'd ever seen Natsu this serious, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes and threatening to spill over as he quivered.

"No Lucy, it's not." His voice came out as a mere whisper and she bit down on her cheek. What did he mean it wasn't normal? Didn't all people have body issues sometimes?

"We're gonna get you help." To his voice she shuddered. Help? Why did she need help? Her arms wrapped tighter around him and she shook for the ump-teenth time that night. And again, she was in his arms as she did so.

His embrace didn't make it all better, neither did the soft kisses he placed across every spot his lips could reach on her face. None of it made the fact that she wanted to claw her throat out better, but it did make her feel a lot more loved.

Rolling them over so that Natsu was on top of her, he wiped his tears from his cheeks, smiling before lightly pulling her— _his_ — shirt up.

"Wanna know why it isn't normal? Why we gotta get you to a doc?" He asked, two simple questions and she nodded her head, whispering a 'do you know how long I've waited for you to kiss me, idiot?'

He bent down, trailing kisses up her stomach and making her flush lightly at it. But he stopped, there was no use romanticising this, so he cut to the chase and pressed his lips to hers quickly before finally giving in. Tears slowly made their way down his cheeks again and Natsu pressed his lips on hers over and over again.

"I can't make it better- but I can help. You're supposed to love your body, to be okay with eating, Lu. It's...it's not… okay for you to not want to eat."

"So… do you know what it is, then?"

He choked on his spit a bit, or maybe that was his and emerald green eyes darted around the room from side to side before he quickly rushed the words out in one big breath of air.

"Anorexia Nervosa." He breathed out, hating that he just had to admit to himself that she definitely had an eating disorder. He should protected her he should have- he should have made her love her body. But none of this was about him, the fire dragon slayer, no it's about Lucy.

"What's that?"

He rolled off the top of her, pulling her into his chest one more time before speaking again.

"It's an eating disorder, and I'll explain it to you in the morning and we'll go see Pory okay?"

"Mmm."

And they did. They went to see her and Lucy slowly recovered. She got better and over time learned to love her body, even though she still had her relapses. Sometimes she dwelled on her weight and cried herself to sleep, but she didn't shake alone, she shook in the arms of Natsu. And he murmured sweet things, even though her brain told her they were lies.

Eventually, she recovered completely. She didn't need therapy anymore, she wasn't frail, she could do things. She was happy with her body and she and Natsu were both overjoyed at that. He could now press kisses towards every part of her body, relishing that she didn't feel the need to shy away or cry over him seeing it.

They were happy.

 **A/N: Can u believe It took two hours randomly writing this at like midnight? Ii dunno but Okay let's just say that I'm a bit tired and here's this. I'm not editing, you gotta live with it being poorly edited- sorry. I hope you like it and please leave a review.**


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